Öhrn Life Management

Thoughts are spinning. You can’t think straight. Your head is about to burst. Going in to overload mode, threatening to shut down. Recognize these signs of stress? Do they usually make you stop and think, or do they keep on moving you?

I used to get so stressed that I did not know where to start, so I would start everywhere at once. I could be writing a reply to a pressing email from Head Quarters simultaneously as I was on the phone with my husband making plans for the evening at the same time as the Ambassador could stick his head in my office to ask me to get his speech ready asap, this while I was checking up on my friends on Facebook.

One thing would be left undone since something more pressing drew my attention off track. In the middle of doing that other thing a third thing seems more important and yet another task is left undone just to give way to another which is just barely started until another thought would pull me in yet another direction.

Working like this meant that starting a new thing constantly made me interrupt a flow of focus -and left (yet another) task unfinished.

With meditation and yoga we train our mind to be more focused and steadfast. Here’s a simple yogic practice that has helped me: Instead of starting new task, start at the bottom to anchor yourself and your thoughts.

Feel your feet on the ground. Sit down and let the chair support you for a few seconds. Draw your focus away from all those tasks, if only just for a moment. 3 seconds, or invest a generous 10 seconds in yourself. Or even better, just lie down and receive a giant hug from Mother Earth for 10 minutes.

I promise, the tasks will not go away. But they will seem much clearer once you come back to them.